


Broke Down and I Can't Stand

by mydeira



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-28
Updated: 2013-07-28
Packaged: 2017-12-21 15:28:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/901893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mydeira/pseuds/mydeira
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Starts when Riley arrives in Adam's lair at the end of "The Yoko Factor" and goes AU from there.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Broke Down and I Can't Stand

**Author's Note:**

> Written for ghoulchick in sallyanne’s fourth Junk Drawer Challenge (on LiveJournal in January of 2005). Her first request was for Riley/any one guy in the Buffyverse, romantic and with Sheryl Crow’s “Strong Enough for inspiration, verb: dig, noun: sno-cone, for the characters to sound like themselves, for things to naturally play out, and no mpreg. This is what I came up with. As my beta, Savvy, described it, this is kind of pre-pre-ship for these two. I have her to thank for the idea of getting these two together in the first place. Hope you enjoy.

_Well, nothing’s true, and nothing’s right_

_So let me be alone tonight_

_‘Cause you can’t change the way I am_

_Are you man enough to me my man…_

_~Sheryl Crow, ‘Strong Enough’_

 

 

Agent Finn had come to the end of the line.  Regardless of what the outcome held for his well being, he had no choice but to follow the orders he was given.  He had learned early on that it was better to obey and not ask question in the first place.  It was when he started questioning things that his life had begun to fall apart.

 

“I’ve been waiting for you,” Adam smiled as much as his jig-sawed face allowed.

 

“And now I’m here,” Agent Finn responded, waiting for his next command.

 

Riley took in his surroundings, the subterranean cave turned make-shift lab.  But for all its pieced-togetherness, it looked highly efficient and quite capable of meeting the most complex of needs.

 

“Amazing what one can do with limited resources, is it not?” Adam said with pride.  “It is one of the few admirable qualities that humans possess, the ability to make much from so very little.”

 

Agent Finn may not feel the need to ask questions, but Riley wanted answers.  Namely, why in the hell had Adam ordered him here.  He had his suspicions with the way his body was more obedient to unspoken commands than the best trained soldier could ever be.

 

“A primitive start, I must admit, but evolution is all the greater for its humble beginnings,” the creature concluded.  “What is your opinion, brother?”

 

Brother.  The word sent a chill down Riley’s spine.  And it wasn’t due to the horror of Adam thinking they had something in common, but more frighteningly the sense of belonging that came with the word.  Maybe it was a response triggered by whatever controlled his body.  He hoped.

 

“I am not your brother,” he denied, to reinforce this point to himself as well as Adam.

 

“You will understand in time,” the creature said placidly.  “But for now, I would like to know what you think of this?”

 

“I think that it looks like something out of a B-horror movie.  And I’m sure your plans for this place run along the same lines.”

 

“Indeed,” Adam frowned.  “I had hoped better from you, brother, but you are still quite limited.  However, that will be remedied in due course.”

 

“You might as well kill me now, because I have no intention of going along with whatever it is you’re doing.”

 

“Then why don’t you walk away?”

 

He couldn’t.  The same thing that had brought Riley to this place also held him there.  His mind was his own, but nothing else was.

 

“Next to ingenuity, free will is the greatest gift of your species, and it has amazing power.  If you truly wanted to leave, you would be able to overcome the control of the device implanted in your body.”

 

“It doesn’t work like that.”

 

“No?” Adam considered this.  “Perhaps you are right.  Presently, you lack the proper motivation.  Mortal danger to yourself or another might possibly be what you require.  Or the threat of great humiliation.”

 

Riley really didn’t like where this was leading.  But he was left with no choice but to follow whether he wanted to or not.

 

“What do you want from me?” he asked.

 

“What do I want from you?” Adam cocked his head to the side as if in consideration.  “To realize your potential, that you can be greater than you are.”

 

“I was doing just fine.”

 

“Were you, brother?  Alienated from your friends, the life you’ve known for so many years?  Involved with a woman who you can never hope to match in strength and power?”  When Adam smiled, it was extremely unnerving, especially when he was saying things that hit far too close to home for Riley’s tastes.  “You believe that you care for this Slayer, but you do not.  You envy her far too much for there to ever be anything lasting between you.  And your world is not her world.”

 

While he knew he’d never stand a chance, Riley would have loved the chance to take this monster on, show him what a mere human was capable of.  Better to go down fighting, even if it was a losing battle, than to stand by and get torn down piece by piece.

 

“I am surprised that you don’t disagree with me.  From your anger I can tell you wish to, and yet you hold back.”

 

“What chance do I have of arguing with you?  Logic is on your side.  And I doubt Professor Walsh would let you operate on anything but,” Riley replied, amazed at how controlled his voice sounded.

 

“Mother did attempt to lay out certain parameters by which I was to abide, but as I am not all machine, other factors come into play.  I am not entirely free of those emotions from which you suffer,” Adam admitted, as he started to pace around the room.  “They are inconvenient and confusing, yet I can see they serve a purpose.  The unknown variable that can guarantee success as well as failure.”

 

The more engrossed in his subject he became, the more Adam moved.  His motion became more relaxed and organic, more human as his hands came into play, gesticulating for emphasis.

 

“There is no true perfection, only greater evolution.  Improvements can always be made.  While I was not the first attempt at a hybrid, I am the first success. My own creations are far from perfect, though each is better than the last.  It is a learning process.  Frustrating at the same time as it fascinates.”

 

He wasn’t just Frankenstein’s monster, he was Frankenstein as well.  Maybe that was the secret to defeating him.  Play into his curiosity and desire to create.

 

“Is that what I’m going to be?  Another experiment,” Riley spoke up, straining to follow Adam’s trek to the limits of his vision.

 

“Far from an experiment, dear brother,” Adam came to a rest directly in front of him.  “You will benefit from all who have come before.  It is my belief that you shall become my equal, or nearly so.”

 

“Why?”

 

Adam stared at him unblinkingly.

 

“Why do you want an equal?  Isn’t it better to stay above all those around you, so that you can retain the power you have?” Riley wasn’t a psych grad student for nothing.  It was what had first gotten Professor Walsh’s attention when she had been looking for recruits.  It was a cover, but a thorough cover.

 

“It is a risk, but an acceptable risk.  And far better than the alternative.”

 

“To be alone?”

 

“There is a strength to be had in numbers,” Adam stated pragmatically.  “Plus a certain satisfaction to be gained when one is able to share their experience with another.”

 

Riley was not liking the way this was going.  Especially since the idea of joining Adam didn’t completely repulse him.

 

“It is what Mother intended for you all along,” Adam said, his hand coming to rest heavily on Riley’s shoulder.  “Her plans for you surpassed all others.  I was but a stepping stone.”

 

“Is that why you killed her?”

 

“Jealousy?”  His laughter was strange in that it was so human sounding.  “No, that was the unfortunate consequence of my awakening.  My system was in overload, so many parts thrown together and forced to be one.  Mother was in the wrong place at the wrong moment.

 

“I truly harbor no resentment toward you or Mother’s plans,” he continued.  “I understand what she wanted to do and am more capable of achieving those ends than she could have ever dreamed.”

 

“How do you know I won’t turn on you?”

 

“There is never complete certainty,” Adam conceded.  “However, you are still here, and that is hopeful.”

 

“Of course I’m still here, I have no control of my body, remember?” Riley exclaimed incredulously.

 

“It is true that you had no control of your body when you first arrived.  You would not have come here otherwise.  But,” Adam paused, smiling once again.  “Everything else has been done of your own free will from your arrival on.”

 

And Riley discovered that he could move, had moved without knowing it.  He had been so caught up in watching Adam walk around the room that he hadn’t realized he had moved as well.

 

“That was your doing,” he denied.

 

“The will is a powerful thing, Riley.  And you have always had a choice, but chosen not to see it.”

 

“No.”

 

“Isn’t it also possible, that while I activated your chip, calling you here, that you could have ignored it?”

 

Riley shook his head and took a step back.

 

“This is the life you want, brother.  The life you chose.”

 

And when the creatures that weren’t quite demon or human or alive emerged from the shadows, Riley found that he had no desire to run.  This was his world.

 

 


End file.
